Lacreaux
by cmhsbabe93
Summary: After the final battle, and Phobos' death, the girls of WITCH decide to leave their old world behind and teach the next generation how to fight the onslaught of evil that has yet to come. Rated T for now. Rating may increase.
1. Chapter One: Prologue

**Prologue:**

Willow Vandom looked around at her friends, wondering what they thought she should say. It had been a gruesome battle, but Phobos was finally dead, Meridian was rid of evil, and their job was complete. She couldn't find the words to intimate how she felt at that moment. Pride, joy, excitement, and even sadness overwhelmed her inner being. Pride at how she and her friends had handled the fight and problems with their powers, joy because it was all over, excitement for what was to come, and sadness because she knew it was very likely that she and her friends would return to Earth and go back to the lives they had before their powers. Will and Taranee would be the outcasts once more, sharing little smiles with Cornelia, Irma, and Hay Lin in the halls but nothing more.

* * *

Cornelia Hale stood next to Will and panted hard, thinking about the epic battle that had just taken place. She knew that people would be telling the story for hundreds of years to come. The story of how the Witches had beaten Phobos and made the world of Meridian safe once more. But as she waited for Will to tell everyone what would happen next, she had to wonder what it would be like when they returned to Earth's dimension. Would she stay close to the four girls around her? Would she return to the "cool" group and not have the feeling of family anymore? If the latter happened, she knew she would regret leaving them – they were like her surrogate family. Knowing that her parents may have been her birth parents but didn't really know anything about her anymore just made her need the girls of WITCH even more.

* * *

Taranee Cook looked around thoughtfully, catching Will's eye and understanding in a millisecond that Will was afraid for this moment to end. What would happen when it did? Because everything comes to an end, even the best things in life, no matter how much she wanted them to last. This feeling surrounding her was so loving, so happy, and she never wanted to leave it. She didn't know how she would survive without these girls she had grown so close to so quickly. And what would happen to Cornelia and Caleb? They were so in love, Taranee could hardly think of one without thinking of the other and how they were always together. And Hay Lin would have to go home to that house and live with the reality that the grandmother she had always loved so much was dead and had left her with so many questions that her parents wouldn't know the answers to. And Irma...oh, Irma would survive. She'd always been one to go with the flow. Why did it have to end?

* * *

Irma Lair stared at her feet and willed herself not to cry, barely holding her tears back by the force of her power over water. She knew that she would remain close to Hay Lin and Cornelia when they returned to Earth, but what about Will and Taranee? They weren't "in" with her crowd. She wouldn't get to see them all the time and she wouldn't be kicking bad guy butt with them anymore. It was scary, thinking of a life without her four favorite girls, much less living it two girls down.

* * *

Hay Lin was bawling relentlessly. They had won, but at what cost? People laid around her, cold and dead because they had died fighting for what they believed in. Her face was soaked with tears. Yet she was also happy and it was an odd feeling, this happy/sad ensemble of feelings. Yes, they had won, and Will was about to speak. Hay Lin wanted to stay in Meridian and help rebuild, but knew that whatever Will said was what they would do. It had always been that way. And it always seemed to work out.

* * *

Will held out one hand into the middle of the little circle, palm up, and allowed the Heart of Candracar to float up slowly. She usually kept the Heart's strongest essence in her hand, at ready use in case of a fight. But now there was nothing to fight, and she wanted the Heart to make the decision of what the members of WITCH should do. The Heart floated for a few moments then floated towards Will's own heart, slowly melding together with it. A few minutes more of quiet and Will's eyes glowed a bright pink. Her lips moved and she spoke, but not of her own accord.

"Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin," she began. "You have all done splendidly, exactly as I had hoped." At this, Irma broke in.

"Who exactly is speaking?" Irma inquired. "Is this Will, the Heart, or someone else?"

"This is the Oracle, and I wish to congratulate all of you on how well you've done. I know you all are dying to know what you should do now that Phobos has been defeated. I must warn you, the fight is not over. Evil is not completely destroyed. It never is. So I have decided to give you two choices.

"One: You may go back home to Earth and your families. I will erase all memory of your WITCH comrades, and you will return to your daily life, without your powers. I recommend this choice, it's much less tedious." Will's pink eyes were now glowing warmly, not just brightly. "Or two: You can go to an in-between dimension called Lacreaux and train young men and women to use magic to fight evil. You will keep your memories of your powers and your friends. This choice must be made as a group. I will now take my leave. You know how to reach me..."

Will's eyes slowly returned to their deep brown and the Heart pulled itself back out of her chest and hung in the middle of the circle, casting a slight pink glow around itself. She looked around at her friends, but already knew what her decision was. She couldn't say what the rest of the girls wanted, but she knew what she wanted.

"I suppose it should be a majority vote then," Will said with a sigh. "All in favor of going to Lacreaux, raise your hand." Will raised her hand and Hay Lin and Taranee were about to join her when Cornelia interrupted.

"Wait, I really think we need to talk through these options and take our time. We should come to a decision that benefits all of us and not just the majority of WITCH. I mean, seriously, what good is it going to do us if two people are miserable while the other three are happy?" Cornelia said, rationalizing.

Will shrugged her thin shoulders. "I suppose we could do that. I think we should stay because – I don't know about you four – I really treasure these memories of us and I'd rather keep them and never see my family again. All I did with my mom was fight anyways. What do you think Irma?"

Irma blinked back at Will, looking depressed. Will could see the tears in Irma's blue eyes and knew that the only reason Irma wasn't bawling like Hay Lin was the fact that she could control her tears. "I think we should go to the Luhcrow place, or however you say it. It sounds like it could be fun."

"Lacreaux," Cornelia said impatiently.

"Whatever!" Irma shot back. Cornelia was taken aback by Irma's sudden outburst. "Sorry, I'm just really tired. You know I love you Corny." Cornelia smiled, but still looked a little hurt.

"I think there are positives and negatives on both sides of the board. For one thing, if we stay we'll never see our parents again. On the other hand, if we return to Earth, our memories of each other are gone. Poof!" Cornelia said, mentally counting up pros and cons for staying at Lacreaux and going home.

"I want to stay," Hay Lin said softly. "I want to learn as much about this culture as I can. I never got to learn everything my grandmother knew before she died and I want to continue learning in her memory."

"The issue is really which sounds more appealing," Will reasoned. "There are good things and bad things about staying in Lacreaux and good and bad things about returning to Earth. We just have to decide which is more appealing to us as a whole. And I'm not talking about a majority vote either. I'm talking about coming to an agreement right here, and sticking to it."

"I feel that it would be best to stay in Lacreaux. Like the Oracle said, the fight is never completely over. We could use our experience to teach the next generation to fight it," Taranee said, looking slightly uncomfortable. There was a moment of silence while the four girls around her thought about everything.

"I think we should stay," Will said. Cornelia, Taranee, Irma, and Hay Lin nodded emphatically to her and smiled proudly. They had come to an agreement. Will called the Heart of Candracar back towards her own heart. As they melded once more into one, Cornelia prepared what she would say to the Oracle. She was second-in-command after all.

"Have you made your decision?" the Oracle asked politely.

"Yes sir," Cornelia said, looking him straight in the eyes. "We would like to stay in Lacreaux. It seems like a much better choice than going back home and losing the knowledge we've gained. We need to pass that knowledge on to the next generation so they can fight whatever source of evil comes at us next."

Will's head nodded, controlled by the Oracle from somewhere no one knew about. "There is no turning back once this decision has been made. You must understand that after this, all contact with me is severed. Even if the Keeper pulls the Heart of Candracar into her once again, I will never again be able to speak with you. Are you sure about this?"

Cornelia looked at her four friends: Will, unable to control her own movements, but always so sure of her decisions; Irma with her eyes brimming with tears, barely held back; Taranee, looking more determined than she'd ever been; and Hay Lin, hiccupping as she tried to stop crying and look brave. And then Cornelia looked within herself. She thought of how she would have never gotten this far without the girls around her. She couldn't go back to Earth and forget them. Never. She looked back at the Oracle.

"I'm positive," she said, taking one last look around before correcting herself. "_We're_ positive."

Will's head nodded again. And then the Heart left Will's heart and returned to her hand. The five Guardians were sucked into a portal, taking them to Lacreaux and their new lives as teachers.

* * *

**Author's Note:** AHHH. First chapter. You like? Don't like? Whatever, I'm still going to keep writing. Review or don't. It's all up to you.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter One:**

One week after the five Guardians had made their choice to stay in Lacreaux as teachers, their first teaching class began. It was summer break for the students and the Headmistress, Carol Jamison, wanted the five girls to begin teaching classes at the start of the new year. It seemed kind of unusual to the girls that they were going to be teachers when they were only sixteen and had just finished a war that had taken up two years of their lives.

But they were getting settled into Thales, the school they were to teach at in Lacreaux. Since it was a residential school, the students remained at the school unless their parents needed them, so the five Guardians were getting to know the students on their time off.

But right now, they were waiting for Headmistress Jamison to enter the room and begin teaching them about Thales and its rules. The elderly woman walked through the door confidently and smiled warmly at the young ladies. Now that they were in a magical world, the girls remained in their Guardian form, minus the uniforms and sometimes the wings if it wasn't a good day.

_She reminds me of my grandma,_ Hay Lin thought bitterly, forcing herself to smile back at the sweet lady. It was hard to imagine the Headmistress lecturing a wayward student about his of her studies, but somehow it didn't seem like too much of a stretch.

"Good morning girls. I hope you all slept well because you're going to need all your energy for today," Headmistress Jamison said, smiling. "But before we get into that, I think it would be a good idea to give a little history of Thales. Feel free to ask a question if you feel the need.

"This dimension is called Lacreaux, as you already know. There are no evil people here and there never have been. I believe this is because they cannot survive in the pleasant and friendly atmosphere. No one has ever been able to pinpoint a reason as to why evil people cannot live here, but no one's complaining. There are one hundred-twenty-three Preparatory Private schools in Lacreaux, all of them single-sex save for Thales.

"We are the only co-education school, with our girls slightly outnumbering the boys. The school was built two hundred years ago for the sole purpose of teaching students about magic, creatures, and how the three dimensions around us work. There are a total of three hundred people here, counting you five and the teachers. There are two hundred-seventy-five students and nineteen teachers. And the five of you. Once you become a teacher, the teacher-student ratio will be one teacher for every eleven students.

"Throughout the two hundred years that this institution has been around, we have cultivated a reputation for being notoriously hard to get into. This is mostly because we select our students, painstakingly, and meet with their parents individually. Most students are enrolled here from the age of four until the age of eighteen and live on campus. The students here are very close and outside of the classrooms, the teachers act as surrogate parents. But when in the classrooms, teachers are all business.

"It is very rare when we accept a transfer student. But when we do, it's because it was a student whose parents turned us down when their child was very young so that their child could go to another school here in Lacreaux. We have one transfer student this year, named Isabel Johns. She's a very talented girl. Yes, Will?" the Headmistress finally took a moment to answer Will's question.

"Should we be taking notes on some of these things? Or is there a book with all these things in it and the rules so that we can learn them?" Will asked, sheepishly. "There's just so much history to this school. I don't want to look like I don't know anything about it on the first day of classes with the students."

"Oh, silly me," the Headmistress said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Here's a book of rules and the history of Thales. It completely slipped my mind. I'm so sorry I forgot."

Will smiled understandingly. "It's alright, honestly. I just thought it would be nice to have something with the things actually written on it. It makes it a lot less likely that we would mis-write something if we were just taking notes."

"Of course. One thing I _do_ want to talk about though, is the dress code. Our dress code here is pretty lenient on weekends and after classes end. But during classes and such there are uniforms that must be worn. The boys must wear khaki shorts or pants, or dress pants, with a button up shirt – white, light blue, gray, or blue – and his school blazer. The girls must wear a khaki skirt, or dark dress skirt, with a button up shirt, or cardigan, of the same colors as the boys, also with their school blazer. The boys shoes must be dark blue, brown, or black. And the girls may not wear heels or those flip-flop things, but may wear any other shoes," Headmistress Jamison explained. "It goes into more detail in the book."

"Is there a dress code for the teachers?" Cornelia asked, always conscious of her fashion choices.

"Teachers must wear dressy clothes, preferably tailored suits, and the female teachers are allowed to wear heels," the Headmistress explained. Cornelia nodded evenly. "But outside of the classroom, the dress code is lenient for teachers as well." That made Cornelia's face light up marginally. "Now, I think it's time to introduce you to the other teachers here. Come along."

Headmistress Jamison walked brusquely out of the room and the girls scrambled out of their seats to follow her through the halls. Ancient artwork hung on the imposing walls. Thales was a castle full of history and interesting stories from the past. Will couldn't wait to explore the library for little tidbits no one had read about the castle in years.

The small group walked past a large door and Hay Lin could hear muffled voices from behind the door. "What's in there?" she asked, stopping and pointing at the closed door. Headmistress Jamison turned to see what Hay Lin was pointing at and smiled.

"That's one of the dorms," she said sweetly. "Oh dear, did I forget to tell you about those too?" Wordlessly, the five girls nodded interestedly. "Oh, my. I'm really getting old, aren't I? Anyways, this dorm is called Niconau. It was named for a famous Guardian, Christine Niconau, who had the power over water. It's a girls' dorm."

The group continued walking, stopping at another door. "This dorm is named Cereya, after the founder of the school, Isabel Cereya. It's also a girls' dorm." They continued walking and two turns later, stopped once more. "And this is Ericlid, the final girls' dorm. It was named after one of our more successful students, Patricia Ericlid."

The group continued and had to walk up three flights of stairs before they reached the next dorm. "This is Alsteen, a boys' dorm. It was named for James Alsteen, who led the first Meridian Army against the very first evil force." Continuing, the group stopped once more about two hundred feet from the door to Alsteen. "And this dorm is also a boys' dorm, named Mandelbroit for Carson Mandelbroit, a double agent during the first war."

Three turns later and they were at the final dorm. "And, last but certainly not least, is Roiniman, named for Thomas Roiniman, who was the first casualty in the very first war. It's the last boys' dorm in the building. Three more floors up is the teachers' dorm, but I want to take you back down to the ground floor to the Meeting Hall first. Everyone is so excited to me you!"

The group walked back down the halls, down the three flights of stairs, and back towards the entrance of the castle. They turned right and found themselves in a huge room that could only be described as a ballroom. It was filled with huge, comfortable-looking couches and had seven working fireplaces. There were four walls, two fireplaces on each, except for the wall with the door. That wall had one fireplace. The walls were covered in tapestries and paintings from the nineteenth century by many renowned artists. On the closest group of couches were a group of nineteen teachers, looking at them expectantly.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to introduce the newest additions to our growing family. If each lady would be willing to step forward and introduce herself and tell us a little about herself..." Headmistress Jamison said, smiling encouragingly at the five uncomfortable girls.

"Uhm, okay...I guess I'll go first..." Will said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. The teachers all looked so much more...experienced with this situation. It felt odd to be so young in a room of older people. She felt young, standing there in her sensible jeans, red middle school t-shirt, and Doc Martens. "I'm Willow Vandom, but everyone calls me Will for short. I know, it sounds like a guy's name, but I like it. I'm the Keeper of the Heart of Candracar and I don't really know what else to say. I'm not a very interesting person except for the whole 'being a Guardian' thing. Thanks."

Will smiled sheepishly and realized she'd been rambling. Cornelia stepped forward, smiling warmly. Until recently, Will didn't even know Cornelia _knew_ how to smile warmly. "Hi. I'm Cornelia Hale and I'm very social. I wield the power over Earth and I'm very confident." Cornelia stepped back. Why couldn't Will have said something so cool and slightly mysterious? It was obvious now that everyone wanted to know more about Cornelia. Will felt so inadequate.

Not to mention how well put-together Cornelia looked. Her straight hair fell onto her shoulders prettily, and her pale green cowl neck sweater paired perfectly with her knee-length black dress skirt. Her shoes were amazing, as usual. Peep-toed black pumps. Her make-up was perfect and her earrings were beautiful. It made Will jealous.

Irma stepped forward next, smiling her huge toothy grin. She looked like she'd just won the lottery, but decided to spend it on sports clothes. Her red Diadora shorts were cute, but not all that nice. And her sneakers and t-shirt were nondescript."Hey everyone! I'm Irma Lair and I guess I'm kind of a loud-mouth and I don't know when to shut up. I'm the girl who kicks peoples' butts with water, so you better watch out or you might be next!" Irma winked at the group of people in front of her to show that she was just joking and they smiled back.

Taranee fixed her glasses nervously and stepped up. She smiled a little then began, "Hey. I'm Taranee Cook. I'm kind of a social person, but I'm really shy. Unless you really know me, I don't like to talk a lot. I have power over fire and I can read minds." She looked uncomfortable, even in her favorite red sweater and most comfortable jeans and shoes. Will felt a stab of sympathy scorch through her chest for her friend.

Finally, Hay Lin stepped up, looking very fun and interesting in a bright orange iZod parka that hid her cute denim mini-skirt, purple tights, green flats, and a yellow head-band. Her silky hair was braided down her back. "Hi!" she chirped. It was obvious that she was the favorite, mostly because of her fashion. "I'm Hay Lin, and Lin _is _my last name. But that doesn't mean you can call me just 'Hay' because it's _Hay Lin_. I can blow you away, which makes it obvious which power I have." She flashed a winning smile at the group of teachers in front of her then stepped back into line with her friends.

"Well, thank you very much girls," Headmistress Jamison said, golf-clapping for the young ladies. A few students across the room looked up from the couches and their books to check out the new sound. Seeing the group of teachers, the students returned to talking or reading, or just hanging out in the Meeting Hall. Many of them shoved their iPod headphones back into their ears and laid back to nap in the comfortingly warm room.

"Okay, now we have to get down to business," the Headmistress said, grabbing the attention of each girl. "What would each of you like to teach here at Thales?"

It was quiet for a moment as each girl looked at another, looking for an answer. Hay Lin already had hers. "I would love to teach a class to the girls that focused on the wind and how to control it, since it's really likely that the Oracle is going to choose one of them to be a Guardian. I know I would have really appreciated it if I had had someone to help teach me all about my power."

Headmistress Jamison nodded, then switched her gaze over to the other four Guardians. "And the rest of you?"

"I would love to teach Geology," Cornelia volunteered.

"I've always wanted to teach a Journalism class and a science class, like chemistry or something like that," Taranee said timidly.

"Maybe something _like _oceanology but not exactly oceanology? Do you get what I mean?" Irma said, confusing Will. But the Headmistress seemed to understand her.

"Of course. You can make your own course, if you want to," she said. "And what about you Will?"

Will stared at the old woman for a moment before answering, "I want to teach as many mythology classes as I possibly can." It surprised her friends, but it was something that had always interested her. Sure, her History teacher, Mr. Collins, had dated her mom then turned out to be a evil guy from Metamoor, but she still loved History, especially mythology. The Headmistress nodded approvingly.

"Very good," Headmistress Jamison said happily. "Well, then it's time to hit the books. To teach each of these courses, you will not only have to learn everything about that subject, but you will also have to visit some of the more interesting things mentioned in the books and such. Now, you only have this summer to learn and do these things, so I suggest you begin soon.

"But right now, I would like the five of you to give a demonstration of your powers to the students. They'll be meeting in here in a little over an hour, as I've asked them to. So if you girls would please set up for everything, I would really appreciate it. Of course, you really don't have to do it if you don't feel up to it."

"Of course we'll do it!" Will said excitedly.

"Oh, that's just so kind of you!"

"How long do you think we should make the demonstration?"

"If you could make it two hours, that would be lovely. And hour and a half would be perfectly fine as well."

Will looked at her friends. They nodded for her to continue. "Okay, two hours it is then." She smiled at the Headmistress then turned around to walk with her friends to one of the couches so they could plan the demonstration.

* * *

"Good evening students, and thank you for attending this assembly," Headmistress Carol Jamison said into the microphone poised in front of her mouth. "Today we have a special treat for you. I would like to introduce to you, the Guardians of the Veil! Willow Vandom, Cornelia Hale, Irma Lair, Hay Lin, and Taranee Cook."

The crowd of children whooped and hollered as the five girls took the stage, looking quite normal. They had phased down from their Guardian forms, just for this assembly. They wore the plainest clothes they owned, and had their hair pulled back. A hush fell over the crowd when they noticed the under-dressed Guardians. The Headmistress looked alarmed.

Suddenly, the lights flashed out in the room and many high-pitched screams echoed through the Meeting Hall. There was a creepy, bone-chilling growl that resounded through the Hall and more screams peeled through the room. There was the sound of shuffling feet all over the room, but none of the students were standing up or moving, most of them were just sitting and screaming, or holding onto one another for dear life.

A candle flickered to life in front of the Headmistress, setting the terrified expression on her face aglow. The lights flickered back on and more screams echoed through the Hall as the students finally saw what had been making the scuffling sounds when it had been dark.

"Turn the lights back off!" one male student screamed, hysterically. "Turn them back out now!"

The students watched the scary monsters that could only be from Metamoor shuffle towards the stage that had been hastily erected for this assembly. The Guardians watched the monsters' slow progress. They counted seven of them. The door at the back of the Hall banged open and a devastatingly handsome young man ran through the door, panting. He leaned on the frame of the door and caught his breath. The entire room's attention was on him right now.

He shoved himself away from the door frame and sprinted up to one the monsters and jumped on his back and started punching it in the head. The monster roared and spun in circles, trying to claw the man off his back. It was an unfair fight, considering the height difference. The monster was tall, and huge, and blue, while the man – who was still clinging to the thing's neck – was much smaller, but still muscular.

The blue monster finally threw the young man off, onto one of the couches and a few girls' laps. The girls gasped and helped him back to his feet. The monsters were on the stage now and the Guardians were beginning to look scared. Will threw out her hand and the Heart of Candracar floated up from her hand. Urgently, it sent out five pulsing drops of color.

"Cornelia! Hay Lin! Irma! Taranee! Earth! Air! Water! And fire!" Will screamed. Her own pink drop enveloped her in a bubble. Cornelia was wrapped up by a green bubble, Hay Lin by a white one, Irma by a blue one, and Taranee by a red one. They each curled up into the fetal position. For a long ten seconds nothing happened. Then the girls burst out of the bubbles in their Guardian forms, floating a good foot off of the ground. The crowd watched in awe as the monsters continued to move closer to the girls.

Will felt all-powerful and looked around her at her friends. Her purple belly shirt with its flowy long sleeves made her feel stronger than ever. Green and turquoise tights covered her legs between her short purple skirt and purple knee-high boots. The wings she's sprouted felt like two extra limbs that would help her through anything and everything.

To Will's right was Cornelia, wearing her own Guardian ensemble. Her turquoise off the shoulder, long-sleeve belly shirt accented her small shoulders. The floor-length sheath that she called a skirt was purple, with a long slit up the side from the bottom to her hip. She looked down at her own green and turquoise tights and knee-high boots with a sense of pride. Her wings were ethereal behind her, holding her up off of the ground.

And to Will's left was Irma, dressed in her turquoise belly shirt, tight with long sleeves. A short purple skirt, green and turquoise leggings, and calf-high boots almost completed the look. Her wings were the finishing touch.

Floating above them was Hay Lin, looking as comfortable in the air as she was on the ground. Her hair had wound itself into two long pigtails and her turquoise belly shirt without real sleeves made her small frame look even smaller. She wore a purple knee-length loin-cloth-like skirt with a turquoise string wrapped around her hips three times and a good three feet of extra string hanging down. Her leggings stretched from her feet to right beneath her knees and were covered with green and turquoise stripes, while her feet were covered by purple flats. Her wings didn't even flutter, considering that she could use the air to float.

But where was Taranee? Taranee was usually sitting with her legs crossed, floating, just in front of Will when the transformation was finished. Will looked around quickly, and saw a glowing red bubble that hadn't burst.

_Taranee was stuck inside her bubble!_ Will realized. She gave out a yell and looked at Cornelia urgently. The blond second-in-command looked at Taranee's bubble and grimaced. If Taranee wasn't able to finish transforming she would have to construct a wall around the bubble to protect her friend. She did so and enjoyed the gasp that the crowd gave when she used the wood to created a strong box around the bubble. If Taranee did finish transforming, she could break out of it. The good thing was, no one else could break into it.

The seven monsters were closing in on the four Guardians now and the young man was still scrambling toward the makeshift stage, bumping into people and couches in a disoriented run. That blue monster had a mean throw.

Cornelia raced forward first and her eyes and hands glowed green. The wood of the stage floor raced with her toward the monster and hit him with a loud crash. He flew backward into the podium the Headmistress had been hiding behind and landing in front of the old woman with a thud. She screamed and fled from the stage, toward the students and teachers watching the fight.

Next went Hay Lin, who made two monsters float upward then blew them into the stone wall – _hard_. They slid down to the floor, knocked out, next to a couch where some of the students stared at them in disbelief.

The young man finally made it to the stage and grabbed one of the metal poles the had held the part of the stage Cornelia had destroyed together, but was now useless. He swung it over his head and brought it down on one of the monsters' heads, leaving no doubt that the monster was now knocked out.

Irma floated sweetly toward one of the monsters. She smiled nicely, then grimaced and summoned some water from the plumbing system beneath the stage and sent it toward the large green monster she'd chosen. He was swept away by the water, into a wall, even harder than when Hay Lin had thrown the two monsters into the wall.

So far, it had been an hour, and it showed no sign of stopping.

Will smirked and shot a few pink bolts of energy at one of the monsters, hitting him dead in his chest. He fell to the floor, moaning and groaning and rolling around. Will felt very proud of herself for that great feat of aim.

Just then, the wall Cornelia had created around Taranee's bubble began to rumble. The seventh and final monster stood in the middle of the stage, looking very confused indeed. Taranee burst out of the box and her bubble in a burst of red flame. The monster jumped back, but Taranee followed him, a look of determination on her face. She threw a few fire balls at him and knocked him off of the stage, onto his back on the floor. His head hit the stone floor with a resounding _THWACK!_ that echoed through the Hall.

The Guardians and the young man reassembled on the stage, smiling.

"Headmistress Jamison, you can return to the stage now," Will called into the crowd. The Headmistress stood up and walked toward the stage but then stopped and let out a blood-curdling scream when she saw the monsters shuffling toward the stage once more. "Don't worry, Headmistress. They are part of our demonstration."

Headmistress Jamison walked slowly up the stairs to the demolished stage. "What?" she asked, angrily. "What do you mean, 'part of our demonstration'?"

"We mean, that we asked them to come here and act like they meant us harm, when they didn't really. It was so that the students could see our powers for real," Hay Lin explained, smiling at the exhilarated thrill she'd gotten from the fake battle. "Taranee not getting out of her bubble was even planned. Aren't we really good actresses? Oh, by the way, this is Caleb." Hay Lin pointed to the handsome young man who had shown up, chasing the monsters.

Cornelia grabbed the microphone and handed it to Will. "Hello, everyone?" The Hall remained in an uproar. "Everyone?" Will tried again. "_EVERYONE!_" Will finally yelled. The Hall finally became quiet and Will relaxed. "Thank you. The battle you just saw here was fake. It was a demonstration of our powers, as your Headmistress asked us to do today. Thank you for your time. We look forward to getting to know you this coming school year. Thank you."

And with that, the Guardians and Caleb walked off the stage confidently.


End file.
